Live for the future and don’t send angry emails

Don’t send emails when you’re angry. It’s easy to bash out emotional words, or write things that would be better kept in our heads.

Instead, wait until the uncomfortable situation has cooled down. Then move the communication into the future tense. Face to face is best, but Skype or FaceTime will suffice. This will quickly solve the problem.

The soft option is to describe or discuss the problem for a few moments in the past or present tense. It would be better to say, “Okay – let’s move ahead. How can we prevent this from happening again in the future?” Or, “What have we learned that can be applied to the future?”

Most people spend too much time thinking in the past tense. Living in the present tense is better than the past. True leaders move quickly into the future tense as they are grateful for the lesson.

(thanks to my mentor Arynne Simon who is no longer with us for the inspiration for this blog post)